Fancying it up–Gateau de Crepes

French food week on 52 weeks of belated cooking posts. I mean 52 weeks of cooking. The week of the best cuisine in the world, at least if you subscribe to the theory that French food is the best food. I haven’t eaten enough or done enough comparison to make that judgment myself, but there is definitely a reputation there.

Then again, maybe there isn’t such a reputation anymore, depending on who you ask. That’s all I’ll say on that matter for now.

On a more personal level however, as a Vietnamese American, it is hard to deny the influence of the French upon our cuisine. The introduction of baguettes led to the now well known banh mi. Custards, potatoes, and onions are also a few of the many other introductions they made to Vietnamese cuisine, and I certainly have no complaints with these items at all.

And while it would be fairly easy to show off a French influenced Vietnamese dish, I shall try to be a bit more French leanings with the Gateau de Crepes, literally translated into a Crepe Cake. It may also be called a  mille crepe, or thousand crepes, but given that it is either 20 or 30 layers typically, wouldn’t it be better to call it the vingt or trente cake?

Prepare to Gougere!

A few weeks back, I gave my first try at using choux pastry to make profiteroles, most definitely a sweet treat. This time I am using it as a vessel to serve of some cheesy goodness, seeing as how cheese is this week’s theme for the 52 week cooking challenge.

Oh, a quick aside, here is a shout out to a young person in PA who has just started checking out the blog and going through some challenges right now.  There are people thinking of you and rooting for things to work out! All the best luck to ya kid.

Ok back to business.

The preparation is called the gougere and is prepared almost exactly like the choux pastry for the profiteroles, with possibly the slight change of slightly more salt. And of course the addition of cheese. I’d like to take the time to add a caveat that one not go too crazy with the salt depending on the cheese you intend to use.

If you had, say a particularly salty Parmigiano-Reggiano, rather than adding a full teaspoon extra of salt, you might just want to go for a pretty big pinch.

And if you don’t care about looks and feel very lazy, they can end up rather flat looking. But still wonderfully creamy and cheesy on the inside.

Meatballs? Don't spaghettaboutem.

A continuation from an earlier piece on meatballs. Meatballs in and of themselves are great, but sometimes you need something else to go with it. Actually unless you're in the mood for a a big morsel of delicious meat on its own (which can be pretty fantastic), meatballs usually are an element of something else; sliced on pizza, placed in an Italian roll, or maybe in a crock pot for a potluck. Today we'll stick with the classic pasta and Meatballs.

Forgive me if you've seen me do this before as its a standby in my repertoire.

One large can of organic tomatoes is popped open. The root beer bottle is there for scale. Or because I wasn't thinking.

I attempted to use the KitchenAid Food Grinder Attachment at first, which wasn't very successful. I realize now I forgot one the cutting piece inside, which is probably why the tomato skins bunched up towards the front preventing much progress to be made.

Forcing the issue didn't help as the tomatoes became quite cross with me.

I went back to my usual plan with the Vitamix. A quick pulse is all one needs to turn whole tomatoes into a more saucy puree. 

See? That was instant.

The usual additions: Garlic chopped well.

Cooked on medium low heat. As a side note I'd get your pasta pot ready. Not ready to start the boiling  yet, but doesn't hurt to be ready.

Since they were handy I added some diced yellow bell pepper as well, which added a nice sweetness and texture to the sauce.

A ladle of tomato juice from the can stops the cooking once the garlic has reached the desired doneness.

Follow up with the puree.

And your seasonings. I find Italian seasoning the most familiar and versatile, but you could be more specialized and pick your own ratio of oregano, thyme, savory, basil and so forth. Don't forget the pepper, and you'll be regretting it if you forget the salt. Now might also be a good time to start the pasta pot.

Here are some reserved meatballs from earlier.

Which is tossed into the sauce to finish cooking. 

I let it go for at least 20 minutes which is more than enough time to boil your pasta and drain it.

And there you have it. Not the best picture but hey.

Kitchenaid cookbook, how does it work?

One of my favorite things to have with a bit of good ham or cheese is a loaf of French Bread, cut roughly with a perhaps inadequately long knife or torn roughly while sitting on a sandy river bed. Or even a can of spam if you so desire, but maybe that's just me. At any rate, attempts at producing such a bread on my own has resulted in varying degrees of success. Some of the more authentic recipes require creating a poolish of flour and water to sit over night, and metal pans of hot water in the oven. So when I saw the  KitchenAid cookbook's rendition involving no such steps, I was curious how it would turn out.

First 4.5 tbsp of yeast is dissolved in 2.5 cups of warm water in the mixer bowl.

1 tbsp of salt and 1 tbsp of butter is added to 7 cups of flour. 

The lot of which is put into the mixer and mixed for about a minute.

Until well blended.

After that, knead it on low for 2 minutes longer.

Ah, nothing quite as wonderfully marshmallow-y feeling as well kneaded bread.

After an hour of rising it should have doubled in bulk, and now for the fun part.

Punch it in the middle to release some of the gas.

Separate into two hunks.

And roll it into a sheet.

Ok, roll it into a slightly neater sheet.

Each sheet is rolled up into a loaf.

And set on a baking sheet which has been dusted with a healthy amount of corn meal to prevent sticking. Next time I'd consider using some parchment paper as well.

This is covered and allowed to rise to bulk up nicely for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 somewhere in the middle of the raising, and then bake for 25 minutes. Oven shots are never that lovely.

Remove and give it a nice brush with some lightly beaten egg white.

5 minutes more in the oven, and you're done!

While I've made better French breads, I haven't had such a good taste to effort ratio as this. Definitely a nice few hours work rather than the production line that makes you wonder if it would be easier to go to the local baker.

Meatballs, the best way to celebrate the new year. Somewhere.

Welcome to the triumphant return of Cast Iron Therapy. It's a new year, a new life and a fresh slate. What says new better than turning several pounds of meat into delectable meatballs? I suppose cleaning out your files or going into a wilderness retreat might be for some people, but that's not my style. But lets get to the nitty gritty, or in this case, the meaty bally. 

The recipe I've chosen to follow today is adapted from Henry Hill's The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run. Yes, that is a mouthful. Just like these meatballs! 

As for grinding technique, I've learned that from the fantastic fellows at The Paupered Chef.

Now let's get to it. First I've got the meat on hand. Notice the carefully measured bags that make things convenient after a recent Costco run.

Actually I didn't use that meat, I used this meat instead, which was still weighed, but no reason to waste extra bags since I'm using the meat promptly. 

The meat is then sliced up and mixed together in a bowl...

Which is then put into the freezer for thirty minutes before grinding. This is to prevent the fat from melting as you grind it.  

Oh Kitchen Aid Food Grinder, how I love thee. 

So yeah, I used the grinder.

 My arm isn't that pasty, really. It's the flash, I swear.

All in all, it's looking ok so far, so lets get onto the other ingredients.

Now to add the character to the meat. Salt, pepper, a couple of eggs for binding, garlic, onion, dried parsley and some home made bread crumbs. I find that the seasoned bread crumbs work fantastically as well. Not pictured is grated parmesan cheese, can't forget that. Even though I did. Stop judging me.

The requisite dicing an onion shot!

I'm refraining from an onion to anatomy joke. You're welcome.

Now add the eggs.

Give it a good mix with the hands. Yes, it will be cold. I have no help for you other than bearing with it, you strong rugged individual you.

The minced garlic...

Onion, cheese and bread crumbs....

And the salt, pepper and parsley all get thrown in for glory.

Mix it up, smile at your brother, ask him if he wants meatballs, then inform him too bad, that's what he's getting later. Form this into meatballs, any size you like, but adjusting cooking time as you need to depending on your needs. If you'll be cooking this in a sauce later, as I did, you don't need to be too careful, details shortly.

And voila done! I think I'm forgetting something. Oh right.

A good thick film of canola oil works well on cast iron pan, over a medium high heat. Cook each meatball to brown all over, a few minutes each turn, but don't worry if it's not fully cooked if you'll be putting it in a sauce later, as the sauce will help to cook it. I find tongs are a wonderful tool for this step.

And here they are, enjoy. May your new year be meaty and bally.